Help with Possible Acid Reflux

[Philbert]

Nissen. Nissan makes cars. It's also a very big problem if you need to vomit, like when you get food poisoning.

The Nissen can be done with a loose wrap, which still prevents reflux but allows for belching and vomiting. Because medicine is mostly 20 years behind or more not everyone knows this.

[Daniel Cavallari]

Personally, I'm very much against surgical procedures for issues that can be solved or minimized with lifestyle changes. After surgery, you don't get to have second thoughts.
Leave surgery for stuff you really can't work around.

[Joel Chapman]

Personally, I'm very much against surgical procedures for issues that can be solved or minimized with lifestyle changes. After surgery, you don't get to have second thoughts.
Leave surgery for stuff you really can't work around.

If you solved your reflux by merely cutting out caffeine, you were not a candidate for surgery in the first place.

[John Watson]

I use the recipe on the side of the Arm and Hammer baking soda box, and double it.
A teaspoon in 8 oz of water usually gets me through the night.
The science is very simple and it works instantaneously, and you'll know it because you will burp.

My cheap whey concentrate can cause excess acid and reflux, I try to take it earlier in the day, and avoid eating too close to bed time. Give your food time to digest while not lying prone.
I got off the pharmaceutical medications because I noticed a major rebound effect when I stopped them. Plus baking soda is cheap.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Baking soda has an almost immediate rebound effect. The stomach wants to be acidic, and it will get that way whether you want it to be or not. Soda lasts maybe 15 minutes, so you're falling asleep pretty quick. Why can you not afford better whey? Do you need a loan?

[John Watson]

Hahaha! No loan needed, I use concentrate which is cheaper than isolate, and supposedly has a better amino acid profile according to some guy that used to post here.
I sometimes wake up needing acid relief and usually water is enough, but much less often another dose of soda helps.

My doc cured me of my ulcer with about 6 months of PPI’s (omeprazole), and suddenly they recommended ranitidine because omeprazole was suddenly very bad. I figured at some point ranitidine will be discovered to be poisonous, and forestalled that by treating myself with bicarb.
I think bicarb itself leaches potassium from the body, so I try to supplement with bananas and other high K foods.
There can definitely be short term rebound from bicarb, but the rebound from omeprazole was on another level of severe.
It’s a balancing act, but I’ve got it dialed in as to where I’m not creating another ulcer.
It’s also pretty cheap and so am I.
I’m sure whatever path I choose will kill me but at least I’ll have myself to blame.

[Daniel Cavallari]

If you solved your reflux by merely cutting out caffeine, you were not a candidate for surgery in the first place.

I know, but how many people have surgery that really did not need to? I know several cases, spread across several bodily "issues".

[porcopedico]

I had a severe side effect from pantoprazole so i switched to bicarbonate.

It took me a while to get my dose adjusted because if overdosed I got a very strong rebound

as so often less is more

[John Watson]

After waking up 10 times last night with acid I went and got some ranitidine today.
Bicarb didn’t help with a late meal.
I need my recovery sleep, SSOC has me hitting PR’s in every lift.

[Kc3376]

I was on a PPI for years, when my (new, young) doctor suggested perhaps I should reconsider. I re-did my ancient research and was aghast. They are seriously bad. In that new research I learned a shocking thing: Our stomachs are supposed to be acidic. Tums and such things are working against nature. The problem is the ineffectual sphincter as Mark said. For me, finding the dietary cause of excess pressure (my term, not official language) in my belly was key. That was a long path for me and probably has to be a path that you alone can decipher.

One thing works for me that is easy enough to test: I lift in the evening after a nice cup of coffee. Sometimes I feel as if my stomach may give me trouble but I'm not cutting out the coffee. The solution: about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in enough water to make it tolerable to drink. Who knows why it works? My theory: our stomach is supposed to be acidic, giving it a bit of a kick with the vinegar either helps it re-establish its natural state or perhaps pokes the sphincter a bit so it tightens.

Several years ago I got reflux for the first time and was put on a prescription drug. It was about 50-60% effective but did not come close to solving the problem. A few years later the problem came back stronger and I took Nexium for a few weeks on doctor's advice. Then I got what I thought was food poisoning one night. A few weeks later I got food poisoning again and thought it was due to the Nexium. I found that Nexium reduces stomach acid which makes it more likely for someone to suffer from food poisoning type symptoms. I hadn't had food poisoning in probably 20 years before that point.

I switched to apple-cider vinegar for a period but it wasn't very effective. I then decided to go back to Nexium for a few weeks. After one week the food poisoning happened yet again. At this point I read online about Betaine HCL. Betaine HCL increases stomach acid rather than reduces it. Since I read that stomach acid decreases as we get older it seemed logical to try it. By three days in my symptoms began improving and by a month they were 95% gone. After taking it for a period (with meals that involve protein) your stomach will supposedly increase acid on its own without taking Betaine HCL. In the past few years I've had to go back on it for a few weeks at a time but Betaine HCL is a cheap supplement which completely solved my six year on and off problem with acid reflux. So I advise anyone who suffers from acid reflux to research this supplement and give it a try if you think it will help. Betaine HCL is a generic name and is not the name of a specific company's supplement.